So far, I remain resolved to age gracefully. I recently had an opportunity to put this to the test.
After my sister Stacy’s visit to Greencastle, she posted an album on Facebook. The album included various pictures of her and me together while sightseeing in places like Hershey’s Chocolate World and Crystal Grottoes Caverns.
A comment below her album read, “You’re a clone of your mom!”
The “you” referred to Stacy. Our mother was nowhere in any of the pictures, so we could only conclude that was supposed to be me.
When my mother informed me of this gaffe (do you think she was gloating?), I laughed aloud. I said, “I told Stacy she shouldn’t have posted that awful picture of us at Hershey’s Chocolate World!” Then I visited the album online and gave the thumbs-up to her clueless friend’s comment.
I relayed this story to another of my four sisters later. She gave a little grunt and said, “That’s not as bad as my visit to Arizona! Did I tell you about that?”
She proceeded to tell me about her visit to Stacy’s home in Arizona.
“It was my thirty-fifth birthday!” she explained. “We were going to climb a mountain that morning, so I got up, threw on some workout clothes, pulled my hair back, and off we went.”
She hiked to the top of the mountain with our sister, brother-in-law and niece. Upon arrival, a woman said to our niece, “Oh, it’s so nice that you can climb this mountain on such a beautiful morning with your parents and grandma!”
My sister responded, “I’m her aunt, not her grandma.”
The woman looked horrified, realizing her mistake. Rather than a simple apology, she attempted to explain, “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t look at your face!”
Hmmm… in other words, you’re saying I have a grandma’s body?
“It’s all right,” my sister deadpanned. “I’ll just talk it over with my therapist when I return home.” (She doesn’t really have a therapist.)
Etiquette is part of our family’s homeschooling curriculum. Just before the Facebook album comment and the story from my other sister, we had read about being careful with what you say to people. For example, never ask someone when her baby is due unless you are absolutely certain she is pregnant.
And never tell someone you thought she was a grandma because you didn’t get a chance to see her face.